Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Vivian Wu | ... | Nagiko | |
Yoshi Oida | ... | The Publisher | |
Ken Ogata | ... | The Father | |
Hideko Yoshida | ... | The Aunt / The Maid | |
Ewan McGregor | ... | Jerome | |
Judy Ongg | ... | The Mother | |
Ken Mitsuishi | ... | The Husband | |
Yutaka Honda | ... | Hoki | |
Barbara Lott | ... | Jerome's Mother | |
Miwako Kawai | ... | Young Nagiko | |
Lynne Langdon | ... | Jerome's sister (as Lynne Frances Wachendorfer) | |
Chizuru Ohnishi | ... | Young Nagiko | |
Shiho Takamatsu | ... | Young Nagiko | |
Aki Ishimaru | ... | Young Nagiko | |
Hisashi Hidaka | ... | Calligrapher |
As a young girl in Japan, Nagiko's father paints characters on her face, and her aunt reads to her from "The Pillow Book", the diary of a 10th-century lady-in-waiting. Nagiko grows up, obsessed with books, papers, and writing on bodies, and her sexual odyssey (and the creation of her own Pillow Book) is a "parfait mélange" of classical Japanese, modern Chinese, and Western film images. Written by Michael C. Berch <mcb@postmodern.com>
This is a beautiful movie visually, but you need to keep concentrating on what is happening. Don't ask why too much with this - the effect of actions is reason enough to take them. Vivan Wu is very good, as is Ewan McGregor, in a different role for him. It reminds you also of what are some of the best things about Japan, and what are some of the worst things about men. Well worth buying the DVD and watching over and over.